


The Black Lake

by Plankton666



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Head Boy, Hogwarts, Night, Romance, The Black Lake, goblet of fire - Freeform, lake
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:47:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26482153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Plankton666/pseuds/Plankton666
Summary: After a horrible day, Hermione decides to calm down and watch the sunset at the Black Lake. After the Head Boy, Cedric Diggory, comes down there, something strange happens with the lake, fascinating them both.
Relationships: Cedric Diggory/Hermione Granger
Comments: 7
Kudos: 63





	The Black Lake

Oh what a pissy day it had been, truly awful. Everything that could’ve gone wrong, had. Everything. Things Hermione didn’t even think could happen. First, The Daily Prophet was delivered over breakfast, one of the main articles being ‘Hermione Granger making her way through the Triwizard champions’. It was ridiculous! Rita Skeeter - the author of that foul lie - was willing to make up any story for publicity, everyone knew that. 

Except they didn’t. 

So for the entire day, students from all houses were making fun of her, asking who she was going to pick, Viktor or Harry, wondering how she even got both to like her, and overall being complete twats about a false article.   
It wasn’t until Malfoy made another one of his crude Mudblood ‘jokes’ after lunch that she yelled at someone. That someone being a first-year asking if Hermione could get Viktor Krums autograph for him after Malfoy had finished his comment.

It came as no surprise to her that she was sent to Professor McGonagall and received detention. She had practically scarred the kid, and almost hit him. Hermione had to admit, it wasn’t one of her proudest moments.. in fact, she was ashamed at having snapped like that, and because of Malfoy of all people.

Having left detention that night, her anger still hadn’t lessened. In fact, the more she thought about the situation she was in, the angrier she got. This was all Rita Skeeters fault. Every single thing that had gone wrong was because of that pathetic waste of air. The insults, the mockery, the punishment, all of it. 

In the middle of a hallway leading back to the Gryffindor common room, Hermione stopped. She knew going back there would only result in her hexing someones head off or actually using the Crutiatus curse professor   
Moody had told them about. 

Groaning at the punishment that would follow if she were to do that, Hermione turned around and started to the Main Hall. It was almost curfew, which luckily left very few students walking around in the halls, and those who were, were returning to their own Houses.

She kept walking. She didn’t stop until she was outside in front of the Black Lake. It was curfew by now, but she couldn’t be bothered to leave, she had just gotten there. Standing in front of the lake, with the sun in its final stages of setting, the sky was a beautiful color of dark blue and red and a little bit of yellow; all blending in perfectly along with the bright clouds still high in the sky. I was like a painting. But it only got better when she looked down at the lake.

It was as if the entire sky was on the lake, the reflection looking somehow even better than the sky itself. It was perfect, magical even. She laughed a little at the irony of that, the only thing in the school that wasn’t magical was truly the most beautiful, most magical thing she’d seen that day. 

She took a deep breath allowing the breeze to wash over her, trying to relax, to just take in the scenery and forget the day even happened. It was weird how nature could still be so beautiful on such a crappy day, as if as it’s contradicting our mood, trying it’s hardest to show that there’s still beauty left and that it’s all okay. 

What a naïve thought. Hermione was actually embarrassed of it. For the first time today, she was happy her friends weren’t with her.  
Now angry at how stupid she was, she let out a big puff of air and sat down onto the slightly damp grass. She looked down at the lake, the mist starting to appear and the sky getting darker. She knew if a prefect caught her now, her day would only get worse, but it was worth the risk- her day been bad enough, so why not one more punishment.

So she stayed. She stayed until the final rays of the sun started disappearing, now blending in with the water, making it seem like the sky could reach down to her feet. She sat there, arms hugging her legs, and her head resting on her knees. For once, her mind wasn’t filled with thoughts or worries or anger or doubts.

It wasn’t until something in the reflection of the water changed that some worry came back. She couldn’t really figure out what it was. It wasn’t a bird, it was much bigger than that. It wasn’t anything reflected off the sky, that had turned mostly dark by now. No, it was something moving towards her, something from behind her, someone.

It wasn’t until the person was next to her that she managed to turn her head around and see who it was. Her worst fears came to be, it was the Head Boy.

“What are you doing out here? It’s past curfew,” spoke the boy. 

“Well I wasn’t feeling exactly chipper, and I knew if I went back to my common room people would only piss me off more. And while hexing someone’s head off might be relaxing, I’d get into much more trouble than I already have,” she sapped back, her head turned towards the lake once again.

He chuckled from behind her.

“Don’t laugh at me.“

“I wasn’t laughing at you.”

She scoffed, “Yeah, sure you weren’t.” 

“I’m being serious. And I’m sure you are too, honestly I’m surprised you haven’t already hexed half the school yet.” 

“So am I,” was all she answered. After a small pause of silence, she spoke again. “What are you doing here Diggory?” 

“Cedric, please,” he corrected, flinching when he heard the use of his last name. “Diggory is what they call my father.” 

“Fine. What’re you doing here Cedric?” Her tone was far from cheery. Funny how her moment of peace ended so quickly. 

“Well, I’m supposed to bring you back to your common room and deduct points from Gryffindor, seeing as you are out after curfew.” 

She breathed out a long and angry sigh, and clapped her hands together. “Wonderful,” she muttered.   
“Let’s get on with it, then,” she said, tearing her eyes away from the lake to see him still standing slightly behind her. 

“Although-” he interjected. She looked up at him, her eyebrows furrowed. “seeing as you’ve had a rough day, what with all.. that going on, I think it’s fair that you get a chance to calm down.” 

She was stunned. Never did she think that would happen. And judging from the look on Cedrics face, he was amused to see her confused.

“But- no- I mean, you’re the Head Boy Cedric, it’s your duty-” she stuttered. 

“Hermione, will you just forget about the rules for once?” 

“I-” 

“Just accept me being nice to you. Please?” 

She was reluctant, this was completely against the rules after all. Then again, she had already broken them by going out there, what would a few more minutes do? 

She sighed slightly, not sure if it was of relief or disappointment of how little he cared for rules if he would let someone as insignificant as Hermione stay out, and turned to look back at the view. It would get completely dark soon anyways. Only half an hour and then she’d leave.

“Thank you,” she said, so silently it was almost a whisper. 

His smile grew slightly behind her. 

A slow breeze came from Hermione’s left, blowing some of her hair into her face. She tucked it back behind her ear. 

She stared at the reflection in the water and saw Cedric starting to sit down. After a second or two, he was sat next to her on the damp grass. Neither of them said a word, though Hermione’s mind was trying to figure out why he was there. The best it could come up with was that he had to make sure nothing bad would happen or that she wouldn’t do anything irresponsible. 

“You don’t have to look over me, you know. I can get back just fine,” she finally stated.

“That’s not why I’m here,” he responded without missing a beat, having expected her to say something like that. 

He was, however, surprised that she didn’t say anything else. He’d have thought she’d want to know why he’d stay if it wasn’t to ‘babysit’ her. But she stayed silent and kept her eyes on the water. 

“Hermione-” 

She shushed him, not taking her eyes off the lake. Confused, he followed her gaze out to the middle of the water. His mouth opened slightly and his eyes grew bigger at the sight. The lake was golden in the middle, only this time it wasn’t a reflection from the sky, the sky was much darker now. No, this came from the lake. Something at the bottom was glowing a beautiful golden. Cedric knew, whatever it was, must look a thousand times more beautiful under water, since they were only able to see the light. It was stretching across the water until almost every bit was golden. 

“What is that?” Hermione whispered, slowly creeping towards the edge, desperate to see more. 

“I’ve no idea,” Cedric answered breathlessly. He, too, was edging closer. 

They kept moving closer and closer to the edge of the coast, tempted to just dive in and catch a glimpse. 

Hermione had read many, many books in her days, but never had she come across a text about glowing water. She knew, of course, that after tonight she’d be searching everywhere for it. It was such a magical sight, Hermione was surprised this wasn’t talked about more. 

They sat back down, the cold grass not bothering either of them, as their sole focus was this water. It was as if it had hypnotized them, making everything else that had happened irrelevant. Hermione leaned closer to the water, her hand reaching out. She touched the golden water with her fingertips, surprised that it was still cold, but snapped her hand back the second it made contact, startling Cedric. As if the water sensed her touching it, the gold started retrieving from the spot. 

“Sorry,” she breathed.

He didn’t say anything, just slightly shook his head. 

Only after a minute did it go back. The lake was their main source of light, creating a glow from below them and illuminating their surroundings in a deep yellow light. 

“Fascinating,” Hermione said quietly, look to Cedric. “I’ve never heard or read about anything like this.” 

“Me neither. I’m surprised the professors have never told us about this.”

“D’you reckon there are any books about this in the library?” 

“I don’t see why there wouldn’t be,” he thought. “It’s not like it’s dangerous, it seemed more scared of you.” He chuckled slowly before adding, “But then again, many others are as well.” 

Hermione made a short sound he guessed was a laugh. 

“That’s fair, I suppose. How about you touch the water then, I don’t reckon anyone’s afraid of you.” 

He looked at her, mouth slightly open and a fake pained expression plastered across his face. “People are afraid of me-” Hermione scoffed unbelievingly “HA!” 

“I can be scary,” he insisted, growing a tad more serious. 

“Oh yeah?” she dared him. 

“Yeah.” 

“Alright. Scare me.” 

His eyebrows flew high and disappeared under the locks of hair flying freely about in the cold breeze. Hermione laughed again, happy to have caused that expression. 

“Scare you?” 

She nodded, “Scare me. Give me the best you’ve got.” 

He blinked, clearly not thinking she was serious. He should’ve known better; Hermione was almost always serious.

“Of course, I should warn warn you. I’m Harry Potters best friend, I’ve faced quite a few terrors in my first three years, so I’m not sure how you’ll be able to scare me.”

“Alright, I’ll scare you.” Her smile grew and she sat up straighter, waiting. 

Alright, if she was serious, so was he. He could scare her. But how? She was expecting it now. Cedric was sure he was better at spells than her- after all, he was a few years above her. But he knew that wouldn’t be fair. He had to scare her in a way that she wouldn’t expect. Using a wand would be obvious. He considered just screaming ‘boo!’ at her, but she’d most likely just laugh.

“Come on, you big, scary Hufflepuff,” she teased. She wasn’t sure how she got the courage to say something like that to Cedric. He was the Head Boy! Never had she thought to speak like that to someone in charge - except Trelawney, the Divination teacher - but she supposed the Gryffindor in her was taking charge. 

His face sparked into amusement at the comment. He smiled brightly and looked away to the still glowing lake. 

Hermione was sure that he had no idea how to scare her, especially as it was now so expected and she was on guard. Still, she hoped he’d give it some sort of attempt so that she could prove herself right. Having him forfeit wouldn’t be as sweet of a victory. 

That’s exactly why she was disappointed when he abruptly stood up and faced the lake below them. The light shining on him make it appear as though he was made of gold and honey. 

“Couldn’t come up with anything?” Hermione asked as she also stood. She looked up at him, which meant she had to tilt her head back quite a bit. 

He turned to her slowly, a small smile on his lips. Hermione looked up quickly and met his eyes. They looked like melted chocolate in the light.   
It really seemed like the light had some magical properties to it. Never before had she payed attention to someones eyes. 

“Nothing unexpected, no,” he answered, though his smile was still there. 

“Well at least try something. I thought that was the Hufflepuff way,” Hermione insisted. 

“You’re right,” Cedric started, taking a small step closer. “that is the Hufflepuff way. You know, our House animal is a badger.” He continued before she could say anything, “They seem like adorable little animals, don’t they? Well, truthfully, if a badger is provoked they can fight off a much   
larger animal than itself.” 

He took another step forwards. Hermione stayed still, not daring to show that she was the slightest bit intimidated by him. It was strange seeing him like that- all serious and quiet. Not scary, but intimidating. She really only now remembered that she was two years younger and much shorter. Cedric wouldn’t harm her, she knew that. She asked for this. She provoked him and now he was trying to scare her. Well, it wouldn’t work. 

So she stood her ground. 

“Even a lion.” 

He was close now, too close to whip out a wand and hex her. Exactly what was his plan? 

He stared down at her, her face determined and stubborn. Her arms were crossed and she stood as straight as possible, trying to reach his height. He smiled slightly, it was rather cute. 

He hadn’t scared her yet. Good, he thought. 

Slowly, he raised his hands and took hold of her upper arms. Before Hermione could fully understand what was happening, Cedric turned them around so that he was facing the lake and dropped her down, only catching her from her wrists. 

She shrieked in surprise of being dropped, clutching on to his arms as he continued lowering her so that she wouldn’t be able to get up without his help. 

“Cedric, what the hell?” Hermione screamed, looking behind herself to see how close to the water she was. 

“Scared yet?” he asked, smiling brighter than ever. 

Refusing to lose, she decided to lie, “No. Though I am furious.” 

“Well, then I’m sorry about this,” Cedric said before loosening his grip on her. 

“No! Cedric!” She shrieked, holding him tighter. 

He laughed, and this time it was at her. 

“All you’ve got to do is admit that I scared you and we can go back up to the castle without you getting wet.”

Hermione looked at him, racking her brain on how to get free. It really seemed like there was no other option. Still, she refused to say it. 

He sighed, his smile not having faltered, and loosened the grip again. This time she dropped closer to the water, almost touching it. She screamed again as her feet were starting to lose their ground. It took a great deal of strength to keep her up without losing his balance and fall in as well, but Cedric wasn’t going to let her win. Whichever choice she’d take, he’d still win. 

“Cedric,” her tone was strict now, as if she could get out of this by scolding him, and her gaze was locked on him. “Cedric, don’t. Don’t you dare drop me.” 

“Why? Are you afraid?” he challenged. 

“No. I’m just warning you.” 

“Oh?” 

“If you drop me, I will hex you so hard you won’t even remember your own name.” 

“I’m not going to drop you if you admit it. It’s all up to you, Hermione.” 

She closed her mouth again and stared daggers into him. 

“Alright, have it your way. I really am sorry about this,” he finally said, letting go of her arms. 

She grabbed on to his hands once more before screaming, “Fine! I’m scared!” 

If only she had said it earlier, even a second earlier. Because now, Cedric had lost his balance and her grip on him only made it tougher. He felt himself moving forwards and looked at Hermione, who seemed to have   
understood what was happening. 

SPLAT!

Within three seconds they were both in the water, dripping wet from head to   
toe. 

Hermione rose to the surface to find Cedric laughing. He too, was completely soaked, and yet he seemed to find it a lot more funny than her. Their falling chased away the light around them, leaving them almost completely in the dark. Only a few feet away did the light still shine.

“Cedric! I told you not to drop me!” she yelled, furious at him.

He looked at her, still laughing. “To be honest, I didn’t drop you. You just caught me off guard by screaming and I fell,” he tried to reason.   
She didn’t say anything to that, just tried to stay on the surface while her heavy robes were pulling her down. 

“And why are you laughing, might I ask? I hardly see anything funny about this,” Hermione stated bitterly.

“Oh come on,” Cedric started, turning towards her. “You’ve got to loosen up a bit. You’re only 15 for Merlins sake, you’re supposed to have fun.” 

“And you’re the Head Boy, Cedric. You’re supposed to be responsible,” she shot back.

He paused, thinking of what to tell her.

“You’re right, I am Head Boy. And I am responsible.” He swam closer to her, trying to see her in the dark. 

“Tonight truly proves it,” she answered, wanting the conversation to end.   
She just wanted to get out and go back to her dorm. When he swam closer, however, she seemed obligated to stay put. 

“It does, actually,” he said simply. 

She looked at him with her eyebrows furrowed, believing he lost his mind if he thought anything he’d done tonight was responsible. 

He sighed slightly, still swimming closer. “I saw a student walk out here, clearly upset. I followed you to the lake and asked what was going on. I knew making you go back there would end in something catastrophic, so the best thing to do was to let you stay.” 

He was in front of her now, staring at her, following a water droplet run down the side of her cheek and to her jaw, then fall into the water. He looked back at her as he spoke again, “I realized you probably weren’t going to hex me,” -the slightest smile appeared on her face- “so I sat down. I was going to talk to you, but then this happened to the water” -he motioned around with his hands to the golden water far away- “and we got distracted.

“Overall, I think my duties as Head Boy were accomplished when we neared the edge and talked. I got you to calm down, didn’t I?” 

“Up until you fell in here with me,” she said, her voice much softer now and her eyes locked on his. 

“Right, well I also got you to relax after that.” 

He continued, “I know you want to be Head Girl one day, but you need to know that by being Head, you can’t always follow the rules and be extremely strict. You need to know who you’re talking to and how to best approach the situation. Your job is to help students, not punish them.”

Hermione was silent for a little while, processing the information. He was right, of course. Though it was still quite hard to accept. It was strange, feeling as though she wasn’t the smartest around. Quite exiting actually, it   
made for more challenges. 

When she looked back up to him, he was much closer than before. Their bodies were practically pressed together, though they weren’t touching. 

Hermione looked up to him, his hair wet and stuck to his face. Some drops of water on his eyelashes and all over his face. His lips slightly more plump because of the cold, though otherwise he didn’t seem to notice it. Then again, neither did she. She thought for a second, how she could suddenly see him so much better. From the corner of her eye, she could see the gold   
light closer than before. 

“So that’s why you stayed,” she whispered, too afraid to speak louder. 

“No,” he whispered back, “I stayed because I wanted to do this.”

Without wasting another second, he crashed his lips onto hers. Hermione responded almost immediately, feeling a whole lot warmer. She moved her arms around his neck while his grabbed her by the waist. Cedric ran his tongue over her bottom lip, asking to deepen the kiss, which she happily accepted. He slid his tongue in, gaining dominance over hers and moving them blissfully around together.   
Hermione moaned slightly into the kiss, which made Cedric pull her even closer, if that was possible. 

It wasn’t until Hermione couldn’t breathe that she finally pulled away from him, though not breaking eye contact. They breathed heavily, Cedrics gaze dropping to her slightly swollen lips every now and again. Hermione felt colder now, as if only just having felt the cool water. 

“We should- er.. start going back,” Hermione finally said, still breathless and clinging to his neck. 

He nodded slightly, “Right, yeah. It’s late.” 

Hermione didn’t want to leave, she wanted nothing more than to stay and kiss him again. To kiss him until her lungs exploded and even longer. But she untangled herself from him and began climbing on to the grass.   
It took her much more effort than she had hoped, as her robes made every movement more difficult. 

They walked back to the castle in silence, though still close to one another. After entering the Main Hall and walking to the stairs that would lead to the Gryffindor dorms, Hermione stopped and turned to him. 

“I can make it back fine from here. You should go shower Cedric, otherwise you’ll get sick.” She gave him a small smile and motioned to his wet robes. 

“You’re probably right,” he laughed. “You sure you’ll be alright from here? I doubt any other prefects are still out.”

“Yes, I’m sure. Now go, you’ve got as long of a walk back to your dorms as I do to mine.” 

He smiled, “Good night, Hermione.” 

Cedric took a step closer and bent down, giving her a small kiss on the lips. Unable to resist, Hermione kissed him back and grabbed his robes to pull him closer. He laughed slightly, happy from her reaction, and wrapped his arms around her, one in her hair to help open her mouth once again. 

They broke apart, both breathless again, and Cedric leaned his forehead against hers, trying to compose himself. 

“Good night,” she whispered before leaving his embrace and heading up the stairs. 

The whole way back up to the dorms, only one thought was running through her head. 

There is something weird about the Black Lake.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first time I’ve ever written on here, so I am completely clueless on how to do things.   
> You can find me on fanfiction.net, my username is Whoopdywhoopie.   
> ... no, I do not know why that’s my username, but then again my username here is Plankton666...  
> Anyways, please do write a review, they mean a lot and I’m always looking to improve


End file.
